Asset allocation

Proactive management and stock picking are, in some ways, two sides of the same coin. But advisers and investors should be aware of their fundamental differences, according to HMC Capital.

British investment firm Ruffer’s current cash weightings have hit historic levels after perceived risks in the global economy moved it to help preserve rather than accumulate capital.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board raised its official cash rate last week for a third consecutive month. The bank has adopted a dovish stance saying future hikes are “not on a pre-set path” and that the economy will likely slow as a result of these hikes.

More and more companies are actively pledging to go carbon neutral by signing either the UN’s Climate Neutral Now pledge or the Net-Zero Carbon by 2040 pledge. Some heavy hitters have already signed up.

Despite the widespread damage caused by Covid-19, the crisis accelerated the pace of technological advancements along with our ability to adapt to the latest changes. A survey by McKinsey & Co found that Covid-19 sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years.

With annual inflation running at 9.1 per cent, a 41-year high, and a raft of Federal Reserve rate rises to follow, the risk of a hard landing for the US economy has risen sharply. A growing chorus of economists has given up hope that the Fed will be able to engineer a soft landing given its latest predictions.

Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research, discusses his view of the US economy from an “Oasis of Optimism” on a recent Middle East trip.

The value of advice is one of the hottest topics in finance right now. Successive governments have effectively strangled the demand side of the financial advice market, through layers of red tape and compliance, to the point that financial advice is now borderline unaffordable for many.

The technology sector has been the best performing sector since the GFC, returning over 300 percent since December 2008. The question is, where is tech likely to go over the next 6-12 months?

New research from BCA Consulting predicts Australian equities will outperform global equities over the next 10 to 15 years.

While gold has long been regarded as the “safe haven” asset during times of fear and peak volatility, the investment team at ETF Securities has highlighted a group of investment assets that share similar qualities to that of gold, allowing the same safe-haven status.

While central banks around the world move to combat rising inflation through the aggressive hiking of interest rates, the knock-on effect has been broad-based sell-offs in global share markets as investors rotate away from risk assets into safer assets. At the same time, there has also been a sell-off in bond markets which has seen prices fall and yields rise higher.